The present invention relates generally to the field of embroidering and specifically to the use of a hooping device to ensure the proper location and alignment of an article of clothing in an embroidery machine.
Embroidery is an attractive and popular method of decorating articles of clothing. It is also an effective and much used method of advertising. The popularity of embroidery and the need to embroider large numbers of garments in a short length of time has spawned the invention of machines able to embroider a plurality of garments at one time.
In like manner to hand embroidery, hoops are used to secure a garment beneath the sewing heads of an embroidery machine. The instant invention is drawn to the use of what are called tubular hoops. In the field of embroidery, the term tubular refers to the configuration of the garment or other workpiece to be embroidered. Shirts, jackets, stockings, caps, sleeves, and the like are considered to be tubular garments. Tubular garments are difficult to embroider, as they tend to be awkward to position in an embroidery machine. To remedy the difficulties inherent in embroidering tubular garments, a system of suspending the portion of the tubular garment to be embroidered beneath a sewing head of an embroidery machine has been developed. This system comprises the use of tubular hoops. Tubular hoops are comprised of a larger and a smaller circular section of a hollow cylinder. The larger hoop is called the female hoop portion and is sized so as to frictionally receive in its inner diameter the smaller hoop, which is called the male portion. The hoops are used to secure and to stretch a piece of fabric or a portion of a garment that is to be embroidered. As is well known, the portion of the garment to be embroidered is placed between the male and female hoop portions. Once the portion of the garment to be embroidered is properly framed by the hoop portions, the male hoop portion is seated within the female hoop portion, thereby catching a portion of the garment between the inner diameter of the female hoop portion and the outer diameter of the male hoop portion. The garment is retained between the hoop portions by the friction fit of the hoop portions, the magnitude of the friction force being enhanced by the added thickness of the garment caught therebetween.
It is the practice of the embroidering industry to provide attachment means upon one of the hoop portions, generally the male hoop portion, so as to permit the hoop portions and the garment secured therebetween, to be secured to the embroidery machine for the embroidery operation. This also permits a ganged embroidery machine to embroider a number of garments at one time rather than a single garment.
However, a major problem exists in the use of tubular hoops. Because the methods and devices heretofore used for positioning a garment between the male and female hoop portions have been neither accurate nor precise, the number of flawed garments turned out by embroidery machines has been high. Quite often a garment is improperly secured between the male and female hoop portions, resulting in the embroidery being in the wrong position or in being misaligned or skewed. As embroidery is for all intents and purposes permanent, each flawed garment represents a loss to the embrodierer.
Another problem that exists in the process of using tubular hoops in the embroidery process is the amount of time necessary to properly secure a garment between the male and female hoop portions. It is difficult and very time consuming to measure by hand the proper positioning and alignment for a hoop on a garment. What is more, when measuring by hand it is very easy to make a mistake. Placing the garment between the hoops by sight is much faster, but results in far more mistakes and incurred cost. The problem with many of the devices of the prior art is that they incorporate far too many steps that are carried out by hand measurement or by sight alone. Not only does using the hooping devices of the prior art require too much time, but there is also a higher risk of error.
There are other commercially available devices for aiding in placing a garment between a pair of embroidery hoops. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,613 to Head discloses an Apparatus for Framing Fabric in Embroidery Hoops. Devices that perform a similar function are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,111 to Guenter and U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,177 to Rancer. However, none of those prior art devices provide the superior benefits of my device and hence provide the user with a simple, cost efficient device for accurately and consistently hooping tubular garments. As a first means for solving the above noted problem, I invented an apparatus known as the Tubular Hooping Device. This device is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/982,010 filed on Dec. 1, 1997 and now allowed. This application is incorporated herein by reference.
It is an object of this invention to provide devices that will permit a user to accurately locate a predetermined portion of a garment between a male hoop portion and a female hoop portion.
It is another object of this invention to provide devices that permits a user to precisely repeat the procedure of accurately locating a predetermined portion of a garment between a male hoop portion and a female hoop portion.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide devices that will allow a user to ensure that a garment having a pattern or pocket will be properly aligned when placed into the hoop portions.